Experimental study of the methane and producer gas blends in an optical spark ignition engine: Combustion characteristics, thermodynamics and emissions

Abstract

Thermal processes and power generation systems may employ producer gas generated through gasification as an alternative to replace natural gas with lower carbon footprint. However, pure producer gas in engines is associated with a significant power derating that can be mitigated by blending it with other biofuels. This work evaluated the effects of methane and producer gas blends on the performance of a SI engine. The additions of methane were 10%, 25% and 50% on a molar basis. The results demonstrated that adding 25% methane to producer gas is enough to sustain the combustion reaction with good stability and a power derating of 10.8%. The addition of 50% methane to producer gas attains efficiency and combustion characteristics remarkably similar to pure natural gas with a power de-rating of 5.4%. Emissions indicated that carbon monoxide (CO) has decreased with the addition of methane to producer gas from 85 to 3.43 g/kWh, while nitrogen oxides ([Formula: see text]) emissions have increased from 0 to 8.85 g/kWh. In the case of unburned hydrocarbons (UHC), emissions did not considerably change before adding 25% methane to producer gas and stayed constant at approximately 10 g/kWh. Engines designed to run on natural-gas could use this mixture without significant modifications to the combustion chamber while decreasing NOx emissions.